Flying Together
by CUtopia
Summary: A series of (sometimes losely connected) Katie/Marcus oneshots!
1. Everything Starts Somewhere

Entry for the **"Flying Lesson"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** All relationships have to start somewhere. Min 500 words

 **Extra Prompt:** (plot) someone bullying a member of your pairing

Entry for the **"Chocolate Frog Card Club"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

(Bronze) Marcus Flint; Challenge: Write about Marcus Flint

Entry for "Hopscotch" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompts: "What can I do?" (dialogue), nice (word), sight (word)

Entry for the **"Gringotts Prompt Bank"**

HP Locations: 1\. Sixth Floor Corridor

* * *

 **Everything Starts Somewhere**

"Oi, Bell! Where do you think you are going?!"

Katie turned around slowly, a grim expression on her face as she saw Pucey and Montague from the Slytherin Quidditch team approaching her, having obviously followed her here to the corridor on the Sixth Floor of the castle. They still wore their green Quidditch robes, just as Katie who was still in her red ones, and the two boys were grinning maliciously.

"Is it your time of the month again, ladies?" Katie asked smugly as an answer to the way Pucey and Montague made their knuckles crack threatingly.

"Yeeaahh," Montague replied with a dumb grin, obviously not exactly getting what Katie had said, but she was not in the mood for a laugh, really. She knew exactly why the two of them were here, it was quite obvious, really, only half an hour after Gryffindor had won their Quidditch match against Slytherin. They wanted revenge for playing bad, and this time they had obviously choosen Katie to be their victim.

Thinking about it, Katie noticed that surprisingly, this was the first time she herself was being targeted alone. The times before, she had only been the witness or been in a group of players who were the target – never had they approached only her. Surely this was a coincidence, or simply because today, she had been the chaser who had scored the most goals during the game – that was enough to justify the actions of the Slytherins, though they had never really needed a reason to bully anyone from Gryffindor, or especially the Quidditch team.

"So, what now?" Katie asked in a defensive manner, trying to hide that they were actually making her a little bit nervous. What were they going to do? Though most of the team members of Slytherin were not the brightest lightbulbs in the store, they still could get pretty inventive and creative whenever they wanted to have their revenge for being untalented or badly trained when it came to Quidditch.

While Katie decided that it was very likely that she would have to pay a visit to the Hospital Wing today, she tried to grope for her wand unobtrusively – her fingers were shaking, showing off that she was getting nervous and she could not remember where in her robes she had put her wand.

"Now," Pucey grinned, "it is time for revenge."

Kate gulped and forced a sweet and slightly mocking smile onto her face, answering:"Can't you think of anything new? Like, investing more time into your own training, for a change? I know, thinking too much does hurt in your head, guys, but wouldn't it be logical to rather spend more energy with developing your own flying skills than wasting it by getting uptight about loosing because your are just not good enough? Didn't you guys ever ask yourself 'Oh my, what can I do?'"

For a short moment, Katie could allow herself a tiny bit of amusement – Pucey and Montague were staring at her, looking a little bit dumbfounded and she could literally see the wheels turning in their heads and she really expected steam to come out of their ears any second.

But unfortunately, this nice little moment of triumph did not last long and before Katie could react, Montague had jumped forwards, his face contorted in anger. The taller boy grabbed the front of her scarlet Quidditch robes and slammed her against the stone wall behind her, knocking the air out of her lungs – it felt a little bit like she had been hit in the back by a bludger.

"I don't think you will be in the mood to joke around as soon as we are finished with you, Bell," he spat, and Katie's face twisted as his badly smelling breath hit her face.

"Ugh, when did you last brush your teeth, Montague? No wonder not a single boy wants to snog y..."

Before she could finish her sentence a hard punch landed on her ear. Immediately, Katie saw stars in front of her eyes, her vision blurred and had she not been pinned to the wall by Montague, she surely would have lost her footing.

She was expecting the next blow and secretly hoped that she would loose consciousness upon that second punch, but it did not come – instead, she heard someone yelling:"What the hell is going on here?!"

"We are teaching the little Gryffindor a lesson, Flint. Want to join?" Pucey answered and though Katie could barely see the outlines of the boy through the blurr, she knew that he was grinning – the sound of his voice was giving it away.

"Didn't I tell you to go for Wood?!"

To Katies surprise, Flint sounded... angry?!

"Aren't they all the same?"

"Let her go, search Wood and beat him up. This is an order," Flint growled and to Katie, the whole situation made no sense any more as she felt how the support suddenly was gone, Montague was really letting her go...

She was gliding down the wall, her knees feeling like pudding and as she finally managed to focus her eyes she saw Montague and Pucey moving away, their shoulders looking tense as they passed their team captain Marcus Flint. Marcus was looking extremely angry, the glares he was sending at his two players were outright deadly.

Katie expected him to leave after insulting her, put once again things were different – as soon as Pucey and Montague were out of sight, the tall captain started to move towards Katie and ultimately knelt down in front of her.

"What, Flint? Do you want me to thank you?" Katie asked weakly and tried to ignore the slight hint of concern in his gaze. Actually she was sure that she was hallucinating due to the punch to the head she had received, there just was no way Marcus Flint could in any way care about her. Surely he had just sent Pucey and Montague away so he would be able to have his own bit of fun with her.

"Are you okay?" Marcus asked, acting as if he had not heard her earlier remark.

"Sure..."

Katie took a deep breath and inwardly shook the slight blurr off, not willing to show any weakness to the Slytherin, especially now, as she expected his kind of friendliness to be a nasty trap. She had never seen a Slytherin being nice, let alone to a Gryffindor, and Flint's behaviour was really fishy to her.

"I am sorry."

Barely able to hold herself from widening her eyes and letting her jaw drop, not able to believe what she was hearing, Katie said the only thing that was on her mind in this second.

"Are you drunk, Flint?!"

"Only a little bit," he winked and Katie could not help but snort in amusement, though she still felt like this situation was more than odd.

"No, seriously, what is this? Let me guess... you are Fred or George, but you drank some Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Flint to scare me a little bit?"

"Slytherins are only humans too," Marcus replied dryly and took her elbow as she slowly started to stand up. "Am I not allowed to be a little bit friendly towards you?"

"No. It is scaring me, Flint, and it totally destroys my worldview. And why should you be sorry that they tried to beat me up?"

"Because I told them that they should not go for you," Marcus explained shortly, his hand not letting go of Katie's arm. Wrinkles appeared on the younger Gryffindor's face as she wondered:"Why would you do such a thing? It is not like you are the king of fairplay."

Was he blushing?!

Katie stepped on her own toe on purpose, somehow as a substitute to pinching herself – she obviously was not dreaming.

This was not the Marcus Flint she knew, though she barely knew anything about him, really. The only time they really had something to do with each other was on the Quidditch pitch, and then he was always acting as unfriendly as all the other Slytherins. He lived for Quidditch, that was all she could say about him for sure.

She secretly had spent some time watching him during the times they had been closer to each other and had seen some things that had not really fit the opinion she wanted to have of him.

Everybody thought that he was a git, not a guy who was neither exactly intelligent nor nice and whose only talents were in the field of athletics, though he also liked to bully people who were weaker than him.

Katie wanted to think this way as well, but sometimes, when he had felt unobserved, she had been able to catch a glimpse of a different side of Marcus Flint.

She had seen him being rather pensieve, as if he had been in his own world, and she had been surprised that she had found him kind of attractive in that moment – in any case, it was an interesting sight. His slightly crooked teeth were unimportant when she saw him sitting there, mentally preparing for training or for a game, he always looked simply handsome, relaxed... things that she did not wanted to think about him, because, well, he was Marcus Flint, and moments later, he would try to crush Oliver Wood's hand.

"Well... mainly because I dislike men who are violent towards women offside the pitch... but also because... um... I..."

"Marcus Flint is stuttering," Katie grinned, "I never thought I would witness something like that."

"Stop making fun of me, it makes me feel even more like an idiot, as if protecting you from these idiots since you got on the team isn't enough yet," Marcus answered and suddenly he kind of leaped forwards and pressed his lips on hers, gently, but certain.

Katie was, of course, more than surprised by this move, but she could not deny that the kiss felt good, really good, actually... there was this slight, pleasant tingle shooting up and down her spine and the feeling of sweet excitement that was spreading in her stomach made her feel oddly light...

After a few moments they parted and Katie actually blushed under the intense gaze of his dark eyes, feeling a little bit embarassed about how her heart was racing in her chest.

They just looked at each other, knowing that they had just done something that nearly nobody at Hogwarts would understand, but the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor simply seemed irrelevant to them. The only thing that counted right now was that it had been something wonderful, it had felt so right, and they both could hardly wait to take more looks beneath the surface of the other one's personality.

And in this moment, Katie Bell and Marcus Flint shared their first smile, and then their second kiss.


	2. Misunderstandings

Entry for the **"Flying Lessons"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** Your landings are most likely going to be shaky and why wouldn't this occur in a relationship as well? For this task, I want you to write about a misunderstanding that is causing problems in your relationship. With a bad landing, you should quickly jump to your feet, mount your broom and try again! Your pairing should do the exact same with this rocky part and you have to show that in the story. Min 500 words

 **Prompt:** (location) Hogsmeade

 **Extra Prompt** : (word) – ridiculous

Entry for the **"Chocolate Frog Card Club"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

(Bronze) Myron Wagtail; **Challenge:** Write about the leader of a group or organisation.

* * *

Katie was humming happily as she walked into the Three Broomsticks, looking forward to her date with Marcus, with whom she had been having something like a relationship since their kiss in the corridor. They had been rather secretive about what had happened on that day and to what it was leading to as they knew that many people would not understand.

Anyway, Katie felt very happy – they were getting closer with every single one of their secret meetings. Sometimes they would sneak out after curfew to meet in a deserted classroom and have a small midnight date – not to have sex, but only to sit together, talk, snuggled against each other and of course snog. And when they both were busy they would even consider a quick exchange of kisses behind a tapestry enough, because being together, if only for a few minutes, was all that mattered to them.

So today, they were going to have their first date in public, and Katie could not deny that she was slightly anxious about how people could react if they saw the Gryffindor chaser and the Slytherin team captain together.

But the second Katie's eyes fell on the table that Marcus was sitting at these thoughts were being wiped off her mind.

He was not alone, as she had expected. Marcus was with a girl Katie knew was in Slytherin too, and he was talking to her as he placed his hand over hers. Katie gasped and stared at them, hoping that she was actually dreaming in this moment.

Suddenly, Marcus looked up and saw Katie, who just glared at him and spun around on her heels, leaving the pub as fast as she could.

oOo

"Katie! Katie, please, wait!" Marcus exclaimed as he pursued Katie, who was storming up the main road of Hogsmeade, heading for Hogwarts.

"No, Marcus, I understood! It was ridiculous to think that you actually had any interest in me! I should have realised that you would never mean it seriously with me! You probably just wanted to have some fun with me, and meanwhile you could just perfectly make fun of me in front of your friends!" Katie responded, her voice raspy in anger as she continued to walk in a fast pace, trying to get away from Marcus who tried to reach for her elbow.

"Katie, it is not what you think!"

The Gryffindor tried to swallow the tears that were swelling up in her eyes as she walked, them being the silent proof of how much the sight that she had just witnessed had shaken her up and that it had hurt her, no matter how much she tried to conceal it.

"Oh, you sitting there, having a very close chat to that girl, holding her hand? I doubt that it could have been clearer! Though I think you could at least have had the decency to do it when we were not about to have a date! On the other hand, it was probably better that I saw you two, otherwise I could have get more attached to you!"

Marcus finally managed to grab Katie's arm and pulled her back, forcing her to stop and spin around to face him. Her eyes were literally emitting sparks of anger as she glared up at him and he had to use his other arm to keep her from walking away.

"Please, listen to me!" Marcus pleaded, his heart racing in his chest. "I swear to you, Claire is the girlfriend of Montague and she was just seeking for my advice because he is ignoring her currently... I know how it looked like from your perspective, Katie, but it really was a misunderstanding!"

Katie did not know what to believe, and so she decided to look into his eyes to search the truth there, and she found it there.

"I... okay..."

"I am so sorry, Katie," Marcus breathed, looking relieved, and pulled her into his arms, placing a kiss on her hair. "I should have known that you could possibly see the situation and misinterpret it. I love you."

"I love you too... and I am sorry that I did not trust you completely... I guess it is because of the whole situation of our relationship still being a secret and all the prejudices about Slytherins. In this moment I just feared that you were playing with me all the time!" Katie mumbled into his chest, feeling like it was time to confess this slight fear to him. Marcus sighed and embraced her even tighter, answering:"I am not playing with you, Katie, I love you too much to do this."

She raised her head and ran her fingers along his jawbone before getting onto her toes and kiss him, happy that everything had turned out different than she had thought at first, and that Marcus was really trying to make her trust him.


	3. The Right Pace

Entry for the **"Flying Lesson"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** We should consider the speed of a relationship as we do the speed when on a broom. Maybe one of our pairing is moving too fast in some regard and making the other uncomfortable. There are so many factors that could be causing problems so you shouldn't struggle. Min 600 words

 **Prompt:** (creature) Hippogriff

Entry for the **"Chocolate Frog Card Club"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

(Gold) Roderick Plumpton; **Challenge:** Incorporate the Tutshill Tornadoes into your story.

Entry for the **"Gringotts Prompt Bank"**

Adjectives: crisp; beautiful; worthy; thick; icy; frozen; frosty; rare; pure

Verbs: surround; cover; gleam; snow; roam; enjoy; circling; conceal; wrap; cancel; snuggle

Nouns: Scotland; sled; blanket; brown; body; bliss; snowflakes

* * *

It was a beautiful, frosty winters day in Scotland, one of these that would have been worthy a giant oil painting. The castle of Hogwarts and the mountains surrounding it were covered with a thick layer of powdery snow. It was gleaming slightly in the sun that was standing at its highest point on the sky, which was blue instead of grey for a change. The air was crisp cold and it started to snow from time to time, the new snow covering the frozen Black Lake, but still there were some students that roamed over the grounds, enjoying the little winter wonderland and the icy weather.

Over the snowy crowns of the trees of the Forbidden Forest, some Hippogriffs were circling peacefully. Some students were having a snowball fight with their friends, others were building a snowman or whole igloos and a few students even took advantage of the thick ice of the lake to skate on it. Also, one Hufflepuff boy had brought a sled and now the older students were giving the younger ones rides around the grounds. Their laughter was carried over the whole grounds by the wind and even reached the ears of two students that were a little bit more far away from all the joyous action that was going on.

Katie Bell and Marcus Flint were sitting side by side on a large rock, which they had cleared from the snow and had covered with a brown blanket instead. The rock was hidden behind thick, snow covered bushes that had grown high enough to conceal the two students from the eyes of anyone who happened to look at that particular spot of the shore of the lake.

They had brought a second blanket, which they had wrapped tightly around their shoulders as they sat there, cuddled together pretty closely, enjoying to be close to each other for the first time in weeks.

Both Katie and Marcus had been busy with school work, and they had also been forced to cancel their rare secret meetings to ensure that nobody would find out that they were together. Their relationship maybe had been going for two months, but still they did not feel like they were prepared to tell their friends – well, at least Katie felt like they would not understand, and she was outrightly scared of Alicia and Angelina finding out about Marcus and her. Unfortunately, the inter-house rivalry had not lessened since their first kiss, and especially the Quidditch players were taking part in that.

Marcus gently placed kisses along Katie's jawline, his warm lips a contrast to her cool skin, and Katie smiled happily, feeling like this moment was a moment of pure freedom. She savoured every second, every feeling that was filling her body as she snuggled closer – the most prominent feeling just being pure bliss. The way Marcus' strong arms were slung around her body gave her the feeling of complete safety, and even through the thick clothes they wore she could feel his body heat.

"Did you read that article from Quidditch Today? That one about the Tutshill Tornados and their new seeker?" Katie asked, leaning even more against her boyfriend. "I think the man looks like he will be able to give them an advantage during the next games."

"Nah... did not read it. And I don't want to talk about the Tornados right now, I have something so much better in my arms," Marcus murmured, his low voice and his breath tickling her ear causing a pleasant shiver to run down her spine. Her cheeks felt warmer now and she was, as always, a little bit embarrassed about his comments.

"I love you, Katie," he breathed into her ear and Katie blushed even more, smiling widely as she turned her head and responded:"I love you too."

Snowflakes landed on the pair as they kissed each other gently and lovingly, needing nothing more than this and these three words to show each other how much the other person meant to them.

After some time, they parted, and Katie changed her sitting position, turning sideways so she could lay her legs over Marcus', something that allowed her to get even closer to him.

"Katie...," Marcus mumbled, starting to kiss her cheek and her neck again. "The Christmas holidays are soon... and all Slytherins are going to leave, so I thought maybe we could share my bed. What do you think about that?"

Suddenly it felt as if the atmosphere was being spoiled a little bit, and Katie gulped, her throat being a little bit dry. She had a feeling about what Marcus wanted to indicate with this suggestion and even though she wanted to spend even more time with him, she did not feel entirely comfortable about it.  
"I... I don't know...," she stuttered nervously and bit her lip, unsure about how to formulate her slight insecurity while he still pressed his own lips to her skin longingly.

Marcus obviously had sensed how her body had tensed a little bit and he looked her into the eyes, asking:"What is wrong, Katie?"

"I... uhm..."

"You can tell me. I am your boyfriend, I love you, no matter how crazy you behave, or no matter how high we loose against Gryffindor in Quidditch."

"I... I don't know if... if I am ready yet to... uhm... sleep with you... uhm... I mean... sex..."

"I did not intend to make you feel uncomfortable, Katie, I am sorry," Marcus replied quickly, rising a hand to run his fingers through her brown hair soothingly. "I only want to have you in my arms when I fall asleep and when I wake up and well... of course I would not be unhappy if we made love but Katie, I never would and never could force you to do something that you don't want to do! All I want is to sleep with you. Sleep."

Katie breathed out noisily and chuckled, feeling a little bit more embarrassed now. Marcus grinned down at her, gently pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered:"We will do everything in your pace, Katie, I promise. Oh, did I tell you before how cute you look when your cheeks turn as red as a tomato?"


	4. They Will Never Tear Us Apart

Entry for **"Flying Lessons"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** This is a test of your pairing. There are always going to be downs in your relationship and this is where we discuss a very deep down. Both of your pairing should be feeling the problem and should overcome it. The problem must be an obstacle that is perceived as difficult and could be a family member dying, an assault or a past history of abuse. Min 500 words

 **Prompt:** (dialogue) "I will never let you down."

 **Extra Prompt:** (word) hide

Entry for the **"February Event: Teamwork Exercise"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Prompts:**

(lyric) "And I feel your warmth, and it feels like home." _\- Depeche Mode_

(quote) "There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." (Sarah Dessen)

 **(1350 Words)**

* * *

 **They Will Never Tear Us Apart**

It had all been so beautiful when their relationship still had been a secret. To Katie and Marcus, it had all been feeling so good, so easy... and for some time, they had forgotten that they were from different houses, and that Slytherin and Gryffindor were rivalling fiercly. For most of the time, they just were Katie and Marcus, two young students who were head over heels in love with each other, who would spend hours cuddling and lying in each others arm and kissing... Hidden from curious or judging eyes, they had felt save and secure.

But then, their worst nightmare had become reality.

One evening, they had been meeting in an empty classroom, while many students of different houses were throwing a party two floors below, with the permission of Professor Dumbledore, of course. It had been the perfect opportunity to be out without having to hide from the teachers because of the curfew. Maybe they had felt too safe, maybe they should not have thought that nobody would leave the party to wander around and end up in the classroom they were in. Surely the expressions of shock and surprise on the faces of their classmates as they discovered Katie and Marcus, their bodies pressed together tightly while they kissed passionately, would have been worth a laugh. However, in this situation neither Katie nor Marcus felt much like finding this funny at all, as immediately someone had run off to spread the news that Slytherin's Quidditch captain and Gryffindor's best chaser had been caught snogging and had both looked a lot like they were enjoying this, and also not for the first time.

From that evening on, things had gone downhill and had also become somewhat uncontrollable to them.

They never would have thought that loving each other could become a burden, or that it could ever be so difficult for them to be together.

Already the next morning they had started to feel the consequences of the previous evening. Both had been attacked by their friends as soon as they had woken up, though Katie probably had more luck than Marcus. Angelina and Alicia were shocked and slightly pissed of about the fact that Katie had not told them anything, of course, but all they had wanted to know was if Katie really loved Marcus and if he treated her right, if he meant it serious with their best friend.

Marcus, on the other hand, had been forced to deal with Graham Montague and Adrian Pucey, who had not been that nice to their friend. To be exact, they had been rather aggressive and insulting when they had asked Marcus to explain why he was "shagging" with a girl from Gryffindor and if he had lost his mind. It had turned into an rather heated argument when Marcus had decided to be honest and had therefore told them that he loved Katie, and that he had never been more sane in his whole life. To Marcus, it had been a rather painful sting in the guts when his friends had started to laugh about his statement, but what really had hurt had been their demand to dump Katie immediately. Their strongest argument had been that Marcus was spoiling the honour of the whole Slytherin house if he kept going out with Katie, though to Marcus, this was a ridiculous one. Why was their honour supposed to be more important than his love?

After having been forced to listen to Adrian and Graham for what had felt like hours to him, he had stormed out of the Slytherin common room without another word, furious about how unloyal his friends were, and how they did not seem to understand him at all.

His feet just carried him somewhere, he did not think about where he was going, and he was blind and deaf to the rude gestures and the insulting comments that some students threw at him as he walked by. However, somehow, he found himself in front of "their" classroom, and he could not be more surprised when, upon entering, he discovered that Katie was there.

She was sitting on the teacher's desk, her arms slung around her knees, her shoulders slumping, and her whole body was shaking from sobs. Marcus hurried to close the door behind him and walked towards his girlfriend to close his strong arms around her.

"I am here... everything is okay... shh...," he tried to sooth her, not exactly knowing what he was supposed to say to calm her down, though it was obvious that his mere presence already helped Katie – her muscles relaxed somewhat as she melted into his embrace and her sobs quietened a little bit.

"Nothing is okay, Marcus," she sniffled after some time and she slung her arms around his neck, as if she was searching for even more support. "Some of my housemates, they gave me hateful glances, Oliver screamed at me like a maniac, threatening to throw me out of the Quidditch team and the Slytherins... you cannot imagine how ugly the insults were that they threw at me as I wanted to walk down to breakfast!"

Marcus felt how hot, acid anger started to boil up inside of him and he had to take deep breaths to calm himself down so he would not ask for the names of the... _people_ to show them what happened if someone insulted the girl he loved.

"My day did not start any better," he whispered after shoving the longing to break some noses away. "My own friends told me that I would spoil the honour of all Slytherins by dating you."

Katie nodded, fear flashing through her brown eyes as she choked:"Then it is clear why you are here."

"What?! No! Katie! How can you believe that I would break up without just because these idiots are telling me to do so?! I don't care how much hate and disgust they'll show for us, I will never let you down, Katie! Because I love you like I never loved somebody and... and I feel your warmth, and it feels like home... Why should I give up my home, Katie?" Marcus exclaimed, his arms gripping her a little bit tighter, as if he was afraid that she could walk away from him.

Katie looked up at him, and once again, tears started to fill her eyes, though this time, they were tears of joy. A stiffled laugh escaped her as she tilted her head upwards to kiss him softly, and Marcus could say that he had never felt better in his whole life.

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment...," Katie whispered as they parted, reciting something she had read only a few days ago, and Marcus pressed his forehead against hers, responding:"And true love does not care about houses or honour... We will make it through, they won't be able to rip us apart, no matter what they say. Because we belong together, Katie, and they cannot do anything about our love. Because it is stronger than them."

To some people, this would have sounded like a mere statement, but to Katie and Marcus, this was a promise made by the heart, and in the following weeks, they would show off their strength to everybody, the strength their love gave them. It was a hard challenge for both of them, as prejudices and ancient regards were anchoring deeply inside the people's minds, and they both sometimes felt like breaking down, like bursting into tears, but never like giving up.

Because in the end, all that mattered to them was that they had each other to hold on to, and that they still had the hope that one day, people would come to understand their deep connection, and how true love did not know anything about boundaries. It just knew something about hearts, and how they had to meet because they were meant to be.


	5. Her Protector

Entry for the **"Flying Lesson"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** You have to pick one of your pairing (or triad, in Sophie's case) and decide what position they would be. If someone is already a Quidditch player, don't just go by their position on the pitch. Once you've picked a position, focus your story regarding the description. This week is an easier week than most because you can let your mind go wild! Min 600 words.

 **Beater:** Someone who is awfully protective of their friends and family and don't mind getting in trouble to show it. They aren't necessarily violent but people will eventually be scared to anger them.

 **Prompt:** (dialogue) "I'm sorry, for everything that I've done."

Entry for the **"February Event: Teamwork Exercise"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Prompts:**

(object) Bouquet of Flowers

(dialogue) "No matter what has happened. No matter what you've done. No matter what you will do. I will always love you. I swear it." (C.J. Redwine)

Entry for the **"Word Prompt Express"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Prompt:** 141\. classroom

(1950 Words)

Warning for adult language!

* * *

 **Her Protector**

Katie should have known that Marcus would react extremely sensitive on the news that Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor team captain, was treating her rather badly during the Quidditch training. But still she had not thought that he would act the way he did...

This negative behaviour towards the young chaser had started very shortly after Katie and Marcus had been forced to reveal their relationship to the whole school – as if that alone hadn't been hard enough for them.

Especially Marcus' friends had been angry at him, but they hadn't really dared to do more than express their disagreement. Katie's friends, foremost Alicia and Angelina, had been a lot more nicer, only wanting their best friend to be happy in her relationship, and even the Weasley twins were supportive of Katie, showing her that their friendship to her was important. Overall, she had experienced a lot of loyalty, and Angelina and Alicia had even come to accept that Marcus would sometimes sit with them in the library sometimes. They were friendly towards him and really were trying to get to know Marcus, who was giving his best too, and Katie felt like it was working, even though they surely would need a lot more time to warm up with him. So, everything seemed to be rather okay with all the people Katie and Marcus really cared about...

Therefore, it had been a hurtful surprise to Katie when Oliver had shown her the cold shoulder during the first training session. For the main time, he had acted as if Katie wasn't even present, except for the moments in which she had flown towards his goal rings with the Quaffel. This behaviour Katie could somehow understand, as Oliver and Marcus had been rivals since they both joined the Quidditch team of their respective house, and on that point, she had somehow thought that he just needed some time to cope with everything that had happened recently, just as her other friends.

However, towards the end of the session, Oliver obviously decided that it was time to show her how much he was really disagreeing with the way her heart had choosen. Where he had seemed to look right through her earlier, he was glaring at her now with so much disgust and hate that Katie could feel it stinging in her soul. Also, he started to make nasty remarks – at first, they were hidden, so only Katie would notice, but as the whole team went back to the changing room, Oliver stopped bothering to conceal the negative meaning of his words.

"I am really curious how you will play in our next match against the Slytherins, Bell. Maybe I should consider taking you out of the team for that game and ask Ginny Weasley to play," Oliver remarked loudly as everybody started to change back into their school robes. Upon his words, everybody who had been chattering fell silent, and Katie froze, feeling all eyes fixed on her. Oliver's gaze was challenging, and she gulped, a bad feeling filling her stomach as she asked:"Why are you asking yourself something like that, Oliver?"

"Well, maybe because you lately decided to become Flint's whore?" Oliver hissed in a dangerous tone, and from the corner of her eye, Katie could see who Fred and George balled their fists. "I am pretty sure that you are biased now, as you let this troll fuck you!"

Angelina gasped indignantly, Alicia took a sharp breath in while Harry and Fred were glaring at Wood. Only George didn't seem to have lost his voice, as he stepped forwards and threatened Wood:"Don't you dare to speak like this about Katie!"

"What? I am merely telling you the truth, guys! She became a Slytherin slut! She is sleeping with the enemy, by Merlin!" Wood exclaimed heatedly and Katie felt oddly numb inside as his word hit her, even harder than before. This open hate was burning in her soul and tears started to sting in her brown eyes as she slowly started to walk backwards, nearly stumbling over the hem of her robes as she whipped around and stormed out of the changing room, barely hearing how the whole rest of the team started to argue loudly with Wood. Their angry shouts sounded oddly deaf in her ears, it was as if her head was filled with cotton... She felt shaky and was shivering as she ran up towards the castle, feeling like she was about to faint. Though she had no idea where she was running, as she just wanted to get as far away from Oliver as possible, she somehow ended up in the classroom in which Marcus and she had always met when they still had been hiding from everyone.

It was a small deja-vu to her when she threw the door shut and started to cry so hard that she could barely breathe – she had fled here just in the same way on the day after the whole school had found out that Katie Bell and Marcus Flint were having a relationship. Back then, she had been hurt pretty badly by all the comments people had made in the hallways, but this time, everything just felt worse.

The first time, the comments had come from people about whose opinion she didn't care that much... but Oliver, she had considered him a friend, and it was horrible to hear him saying these disgusting things about her. It was way worse than the insults of a hundred people combined.

Sobs were shaking her body as the whole amount of pain hit her, and all Katie could do was sling her arms around herself and try not to loose her mind. She just felt like her whole world had turned upside down in the last weeks and it just seemed as if fate had decided to punch her once again just as things had seemed to calm down around them.

Only a few minutes later, her deja-vu just continued, though this time, she was rather happy about it – Marcus entered the classroom, as if he had sensed that his girlfriend needed his support. A relieved sob escaped Katie as Marcus hugged her, whispering:"What is going on, beauty?"

It took some time for Katie to calm down enough to be able to speak with a steady voice again as she explained.

"Oliver... he... he said ugly things at practice and threatened to throw me off the team, especially regarding the game against Slytherin... and he called me your whore."

"He did not," Marcus growled and she could hear his jaw crack as his expression hardened. Katie sniffled as she pressed herself against her boyfriend's muscular chest, seeking for protection that he was more than willing to give. His arms were holding her tight, and she could feel his heart beating faster in anger, but still he was her safe fortress in a stormy time.

"Katie, tell me he didn't," Marcus repeated, his voice shaking and displaying how enraged he was, and Katie just whispered:"He did... and he repeated it, even though everybody in the team told him to stop..."

"That was a big fault," Marcus snarled and she could literally see the rage boiling in his body as he let go of her and pressed a kiss to her forehead before suddenly storming out of the classroom as if he had been stung by a bee.

"Marcus, wait, where are you going?" Katie gasped in shock and followed Marcus, who didn't stop as he exclaimed:"I am going to make him pay! I am going to shut his foul mouth! Nobody says things like that to my Katie!"

OoO

Heads were rising in surprise as Marcus and Katie, who was panting hard as Marcus was nearly too fast for her, entered the Great Hall with flying robes.

"Wood!", Marcus barked as he approached the captain who was seated at the Gryffindor table, eating his dinner.

"What do you want, Flint?!" Oliver asked, acting so unimpressed that he didn't even look up from his plate. Marcus balled his fists so that his knuckles cracked and growled:"We need to talk about what you called Katie earlier."

"I have no idea what you mean."

"You insulted her and threatened her to take her off the team," Marcus stated, louder than necessarily, as if he wanted everybody to hear. Katie meanwhile took his hand, praying that Marcus would stay calm – the last thing she wanted was that he got himself into trouble because of her.

However, Marcus didn't seem to share her opinion, as he now grabbed Wood's collar with his free hand, forcing the Gryffindor captain to look at him.

"Maybe I did. But only because she deserved it. I cannot use people on my team who ally with the enemy! And well, yes, in my opinion, she is very cheap, probably the reason why she only took you, and not somebody else," Wood grinned sardonically, and immediately, Marcus snapped. His fist shot forwards and he punched Wood right into the face, breaking his nose in the process. Blood shot out of Oliver's nose and ran down his face while the teachers came running towards them, shouting loudly. Katie therewhile was so overwhelmed by the whole situation that she let go of Marcus' hand and left the scene, shocked by what Marcus had done for her.

"Katie, Marcus is outside, and he told me that he wouldn't leave until you come out," Angelina sighed as she sat down next to Katie in the common room. "He looks pretty desperate, you know, I think he will camp outside if you don't talk to him."

Katie had holed herself up after the incident in the Great Hall, as she felt extremely conflicted about everything. She was confused by the fact that she found it oddly sweet that Marcus had fought like that for her, though she was supposed to dislike that – after all, she hated violence. Everything was just too complicated for her at the moment, it was overwhelming her and she just needed some time to relax...

However, Marcus was getting impatient, and she knew that it was wrong to let him wait any longer. And so, she left the common room immediately, her heart jumping and making her realise how much she had missed him as she saw him standing there in the hallway, holding a huge flower bouquet in his hands.

"Katie, love, I am so sorry, I'm sorry, for everything that I've done! I just... I just got so angry because of these ugly things he said and... I... I just wanted to protect you..."

Katie wanted to scold him, she wanted to tell him how wrong it had been what he had done, and that he deserved the two months of detention he had earned, just as Oliver after everybody had told Professor McGonagall about the incident after the Quidditch training.

But somehow, she couldn't. Instead, she pushed the flowers aside, pulled him closer and kissed him passionately. When they parted for a short moment, Katie caressed his cheek lovingly, looked him deeply into the eyes and whispered:"No matter what has happened. No matter what you've done. No matter what you will do. I will always love you. I swear it. Though I hope that you'll never get into a fight for me again. I don't want to share you with anyone, not even for detention."

Marcus laughed in relief and before he kissed her again, he breathed:"I love you so much, Katie."


	6. We Belong

Entry for the **"Flying Lesson"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** You have your friends, your teammates, and you also have your opponents. Your opponents will be aiming to hurt you from the get go and we should have this shown by incoporating another member into the relationship that is causing problems. Min 500 words.

 **Extra Prompt:** (action) a kiss

Entry for the **"Word Prompt Express"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Prompt:** 842\. startled

(1500 Words)

* * *

 **We Belong**

Katie felt like since Marcus and she had started their relationship, there never was a time in which they were sailing in calm waters. As soon as the waves of one event had ebbed away, another one would rise and come crashing down over them. It was as if it was them against the world, everybody tried to make their life and their relationship a little bit more difficult, and Katie sometimes felt like breaking down. Luckily, Marcus was always by her side, proving her that this was not in vain, that he loved her, no matter how hard times were.

However, their toughest challenge was yet to come, and they would be startled about how close their strong love would have come to breaking apart, though the trigger moment had not been that massive at all. But well, as everything was rather hard for them, every tiny thing seemed to turn into a large problem, and their patience was low.

OoO

Katie was feeling uneasy, and had been for several days by now. The incident with Oliver was still present in her mind, and she had to admit that it obviously had shaken her up more than she had thought. Oliver had held his head down after the confrontation with Marcus and was acting relatively normal during the Quidditch practices, but still Katie found herself being unable to trust the peace.

Also, the past events had increased her need for closeness, and she could see that it caused Marcus to feel uncomfortable too.

At first, he had called it cute and sweet when she searched for him in between classes to cuddle for a short moment, but it had not taken long until he had started to feel like she was clinging to him. For some days, he hadn't said anything, as he knew that she was just shaken up and needed support, however, he couldn't stand it any more at some point.

Katie was definitely sensing that Marcus didn't feel comfortable with her behaviour right now. Really, anybody not seeing it really would have been a naïve person. And it wasn't that she couldn't understand why he was now trying to get some space by changing his routines so she wouldn't find him in the breaks.

Still she couldn't help herself, she just felt more sad and depressed by that, more insecure, and the fact that she was sometimes catching a glimpse of Marcus walking around with another girl – Charlene Winston, a Slytherin from Marcus year – didn't make anything better. Also that they really were spending a lot of time together, and that Marcus seemed to be rather comfortable and relaxed when Charlene was around. And that she kept laughing and smiling while touching him a little bit too often.

Katie felt like she was on a rollercoaster of emotions, and her train was heading downwards, while twisting so hard that she was feeling like she could be thrown out any minute.

Anxiety was closing its cold hands around her and whenever she would see Marcus with Charlene while he was trying to avoid her, she could feel panic rising inside of her. The fear of loosing Marcus to this other girl because Charlene wasn't causing so much trouble like Katie was always prominent, and she barely slept for days because her head would be spinning, filled with the pictures of Marcus and Charlene while her thoughts were circling around the same fear over and over.

Alicia and Angelina were trying to calm her down, but despite their tries, they were failing. Katie felt like a wreck, and it was as if every very rare kiss that Marcus was giving her in these days felt like a false promise. It was as if he was acting as if he still loved her only to prevent her from breaking into pieces, while he was already having Charlene, because she wasn't trouble.

She knew that she was being paranoid, but every time she saw the interactions between Charlene and Marcus she felt like she was right.

One day, it turned out that her paranoia had been justified – though it wasn't what she had thought.

Katie had decided that she had had enough of this, that she was sick of letting Marcus fool her and play with her, and so she was making her way through the crowd towards them, shoving poor First Years out of the way in order to keep up with Charlene and Marcus as they walked down the hallway, obviously looking for a place that was less crowded during break.

It didn't take them long to succeed, and they didn't notice that Katie had followed them to the small hallway and was now listening closely to their conversation, hidden behind a stature.

"You look tired, Marcus," Charlene stated with a soft tone in her voice, her neatly manicured fingers gently caressing Marcus shoulder – something already forced Katie to bite her bottom lip so she wouldn't scream at that... girl that she should stop touching her boyfriend.

"I didn't sleep last night," Marcus explained with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, completely ignoring how Charlene tried to step closer. "There was just so much going on in my mind... I thought a lot about Katie and me, you know... About what you said... and if you maybe were right..."

Katie's heart started to race as he mentioned her, and it took her a lot to control her breathing so it wouldn't be too loud. Her feet were tingling from the urge to walk to them and ask what was going on here, but she held them still successfully.

"Oh, Marcus... I told you that you two only are a nice dream, nothing more. No matter how much you want it, it will never work out longer. Just look at your relationship – so far you've only had crisis after crisis! Your own friends have turned their backs on you because of her. And now she herself is making it worse too. I hope you finally saw that you don't have a future, even though you already went through so much together... But I will be there for you, Marcus... I'll help you to get over her," Charlene interrupted Marcus, a smile showing on her face that was a little bit too wide and a little bit too falsly sad. Katie felt panic rising inside of her and she couldn't hold herself back any longer, she stepped out of her hiding place with loud footfalls so they would definitely notice her presence.

Marcus looked surprised and also pretty shaken up, while Charlene looked nearly annoyed about Katie's sudden appearance. Neither Katie nor Marcus said anything as they looked at each other, both having tears in their eyes. They both felt like they were standing at the edge, and Charlene was waiting for Marcus to push Katie down when she hissed:"Tell her, Marcus. Tell her what you told me the last weeks, tell her what we talked about."

Marcus gulped, and at first, Katie thought that his voice had left him. However, after clearing his throat heavily, Marcus slowly started to talk:"I... Katie... lately we have had a lot of problems... and I often thought like it would be better for both of us to give up and Charlene... Charlene, she also thought that we..."

"I heard what Charlene thinks about us," Katie whispered lowly, while she was nearly bursting into tears. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Charlene gave Marcus an expecting stare. "But the only thing that is important is what _you_ think about our relationship."

She felt shaky, as if she was about to break down as Marcus was taking a deep breath.

"I have to be honest, I really doubted us, Katie. I sometimes thought that it would be better to give up, that it would spare us a lot of trouble and that it would free us after some time, especially regarding the fact that it was so complicated lately. And well, I finally decided what I want."

Katie expected his face to darken, she was convinced that he would tell her that it was over, that he didn't wanted to be with her any more.

And so it was understandable that her eyes widened in surprise when Marcus closed the distance between them in two large steps, pulled her into his arms and kissed her in a way they had never kissed before. It was desperate, it was soft, so full of love that it made her feel dizzy and light-headed and robbed her breath.

"I want you, I want us, no matter what," Marcus whispered as they parted for a short moment, only to kiss her again. Charlene's outraged rants seemed so far away and unimportant – they didn't care that Charlene was throwing insults at them about how she had tried to save the reputation of the house of Slytherin, and that she couldn't believe how little Marcus cared about it.


End file.
